King Crimson was, believe it or not, the band that the world was waiting for as the psychedelic 1960s came to a close. It was a different time, one in which a high level of musical complexity and fantastical tales were all the rage.

As the years wore on, King Crimson’s music became increasingly sophisticated, with only the truly devoted making the leap. Yes, those are the people that will send me the angriest e-mails after reading this article.

King Crimson is one of the greatest progressive-rock bands of all time, and these are the band’s 10 greatest songs, in my opinion.

Greatest 10 Songs by King Crimson

10. “Matte Kudasai”

No other band, perhaps, was more thrilled to become a cult act rather than a commercial pop-rock proposition than King Crimson.

“Discipline” was the band’s first album in six years. It combined rigorously learned technical playing with wacky new-wave sounds and with Adrian Belew’s inventiveness. “Matte Kudasai” is a real gem.

9. “Red”

There was no making sense of much of King Crimson’s music. But it was always easy to tune in and feel your way through it.

By the excellent “Red,” the group had given up entirely on pleasing the general public. They’d also given up on trying to sound pretty, creating a kind of jazz trio sound of the Apocalypse instead.

Famously, Kurt Cobain loved “Red.” And why not? Virtuosity aside, you can hear traces of what would become grunge in this one.

8. “Cadence and Cascade”

I’m sure that it wasn’t entirely a decision to abandon success that pushed King Crimson to make “In the Wake of Poseidon.” The group had, after all, lost vital members along the way.

The album showed the band’s willingness to grow. What “Cadence and Cascade” showed, however, was that fans of the debut could still rely on some of the dreamy, fairy-land compositions they’d loved first time around. Changes were underway, but this was, still, a great era.

7. “Epitaph”

It’s no secret that the band’s debut “In the Court of the Crimson King” is most successful and the best introduction to the band. It’s also no secret that Greg Lake, singer on the record, would be most willing to take the format further.

“Epitaph” is as colourful as a children’s fairytale book. And, melancholy-aside, it’s nearly as pleasant. You’d hear more of this on Emerson, Lake and Palmer records. Still, I think, it’s also one of King Crimson’s finest compositions.

6. “Three of a Perfect Pair”

“Three of a Perfect Pair” has King Crimson sounding like The Talking Heads. The results are better than they sound on paper. And, I’m sure, they’re not an accident either. The record was an attempt to blend pop sensibilities with virtuosic ability. It didn’t deliver a hit quite in the way that prog-rock contemporaries Yes or Pink Floyd scored. But, I still think of this as a great song.

5. “The Night Watch”

King Crimson was already making some of the most complex, challenging music by 1974. But, cleverly, they’d raised a generation of fans to (at least partly) go along for the ride.

“The Night Watch” is, yes, a song about Dutch painter Rembrandt’s famous painting. It was also released as a single. Naturally, it failed to chart, which, I am sure, made those who liked them treasure them even more.

4. “Book of Saturday”

How about that wonderful John Wetton vocals? Fans of the band rejoiced. That singing sounded much like Greg Lake’s vocals. And, the presentation for “Larks’ Tongue in Aspic” suggested a return to the group’s roots.

But it was a rouse. “Book of Saturday” is the most pleasant and, in some ways, direct of the songs on the album. Everything else is abstruse music. King Crimson, by this stage, had very much started a cult and were looking for prog-rock fans to join it.

3. “21st Century Schizoid Man”

Where to start with King Crimson, I hear you ask? Why, just start with the hit. Can you even believe they had one of those?

But just who could deny that memorable guitar riff, or the heavy-metal styled vocals? In fact, hard-rockers, in particular, have enjoyed covering “21st Schizoid Man.”

The song, upon its release, seemed to signal the emergence of a new form of smart, muscular rock’ roll. I think that the predictions were correct, but just not in the way that everyone expected.

2. “Starless”

For all of the pictures of Robert Fripp playing while sitting on a chair and his bandmates smiling politely, King Crimson made a frightening noise. Their albums, for the most part, are ghostly creations.

That’s never been truer, I reckon, than on “Starless.” An incredible addition to the band’s repertoire, “Starless” is the closest the band came to writing serious classical music using modern rock instrumentation.

1. “The Court of the Crimson King”

Much of King Crimson’s discography can be intentionally opaque. Listening to most albums feels like taking a difficult course and worrying about the quiz at the end.

That’s not the case with the band’s debut, of course. Created just at the tail-end of the hippie dream and weaving fairytales with bombastic rock, “The Court of the Crimson King” is, in my opinion, the band’s finest song, and a rare instance where fantasy rock oughtn’t make you chuckle loudly.

It’s such a great album, in fact, that if you want to solely own this and watch videos of Mr. Fripp and his wife Toyah Willcox, this should be your full knowledge of King Crimson and nobody should judge you.